Glory, glory Hallelujah. All the worry, all the despair, all the longing has
gone, all gone. No more will we have cause to question the credibility of
the British and Irish Lions.

No more will we have to crave success, wonder if these old-age tourists have a future in the modern game. All those doubts were blown away by a quite incredible performance and 41-16 victory from Warren Gatland’s Lions, one of their finest in the last half-century. Take a bow one and all.

It was all-consuming, full of sweep and majesty as well as the power of the scrum. There was hard-knuckle activity at the set-piece to admire, surging runs too as the Lions showed that they were multi-grained and not mere monochrome bruisers. Four tries were scored, a rebuke to those who see northern hemisphere rugby as a refuge only for dullards.

Above all, this was a victory for the concept of the Lions. It was never a case of 10 Welshmen taking the field in the starting XV. These were as one, musketeers on foreign soil, defying the odds to take a series for the first time in 16 years. They played for each other, they played for the jersey, and they carved their names into the history books.

The scenes along the touchline as the clock ticked down and players gathered to acclaim their mates would have moved a statue to tears.

They hugged and back-slapped, the love of their supporters came cascading down from the stands, and the anthems echoed round the stadium. It was a thing of rare beauty. There are times when sport reaches into the soul. This was one of those moments.

After two nail-biters, this was a night when the Lions fans were throwing hats into the air long before the final whistle, their joy distilled into mocking waves to Wallaby fans as they streamed away for an early exit.

Really, giving the Aussies stick, what is the world coming to?

The crowd had witnessed a display of great character and notable technical skills. The scrum was redoubtable, a source of points through penalties, all of which were taken by the master of the boot that is Leigh Halfpenny.

He missed only a conversion to end up with 21 points, a test record in itself, finishing with 49 points for the series, another landmark eclipsing that set by his mentor on this tour, kicking coach, Neil Jenkins.

The little man with grandeur in his being, Halfpenny has bestrode this series, not just accumulating points but playing with rare assurance, his all-round game coming out here as he helped create two tries, the second for George North a brilliant effort.

And the Wales full-back nailed a monster kick from 50 metres with his very first attempt, instantly banishing the trauma of the second Test when he had failed at the death.

There were heroes in red right across the park, from England prop Alex Corbisiero on the loosehead through to the powerhouse contribution of Alun Wyn Jones behind in the second row, the man who stepped forward to captain the Lions in this decisive Test match.

He stated that he would trim the formalities of captaincy to a minimum and lead from the front. He was as good as his word, forever involved, setting the tone and shirking nothing.

He was imperious when and where it mattered, as he has been throughout the series. The back row, with No 8 Toby Faletau to the fore, were first-rate. The absence of their captain, Sam Warburton, might have spooked a lesser side. Instead they did not miss a beat, the next man stepping forward to lead the charge.

The Lions had to show fortitude when it mattered, prove that they were as tight-knit as they had claimed in swearing allegiance to the ethos of the Lions.

After their runaway start, Corbisiero squirreling over after just 80 seconds, and then building a 19-3 lead by the 25th minute, the Lions were set back on their heels by six minutes of mayhem just approaching the half-time mark.

They failed to capitalise on Australia being reduced to 14 men when Ben Alexander was sent to the sin-bin as yet another scrum hit the turf. French referee Romain Poite did as officials are supposed to do and reward dominance. He played a blinder.

The Lions, however, did not maximise their advantage. Australia survived being a man short and hit back with a chirpy try from fly-half James O’Connor on the stroke of half-time.

Within five minutes of the restart, two more penalties from Christian Leali’ifano had helped the Wallabies to narrow the gap to just three points.

This was to be a test of their resolve – all the more so given that they were shorn of all three Lions captains that they had had in their ranks, two to injury and the other by choice, Brian O’Driscoll, just another figure in the stands watching from afar.

If there was a period when all the collective toil came to fruition, all that sweat and heartache, it was over the next 20 minutes.

The Wallabies came again and it took a magnificent turnover from Faletau to stem the tide of gold and green, the No 8 ripping the ball from the Wallabies as their raiding parties headed into the Lions 22.

There was a sense then and there, as the Lions counter-attacked from deep rather than just hoof the ball away, that the force was still within them to come up with a final flourish.

Sure enough, it all came gushing out in a bust of try-scoring that sent pulses racing and statisticians scrambling for their books. Three tries were scored in 15 minutes, Ireland fly-half Jonathan Sexton getting the first of them in the 55th minute.

The player who did most to pave the way for that score was centre Jonathan Davies, the man who was not O’Driscoll.

The Welshman is a class act in his own right and has no need to masquerade as another. He did superbly to keep the sequence on the move, feeding Halfpenny who sent Sexton on his way.

Time and again Australia had spurned kicks at goal in the first half, backing themselves to score tries. Arrogance or foolishness? Both. The Wallabies turned down another chance to shoot for the seven points but the Lions resisted - again.

By this time, reinforcements had arrived, Gatland using his bench adroitly to inject fresh energy, half-backs Conor Murray and Owen Farrell picking up the tempo, aided by the likes of Justin Tipuric and Scotland’s finest, Richie Gray.

Halfpenny was terrific in setting up a try for North while Jamie Roberts had no need of any extra assistance as the Wales centre cut in and through to deliver the coup de grace for the Lions 11 minutes from time.

The celebrations pitch-side took shape. There were several minutes still to run in the match but the journey was at an end. Holy Grail. It felt good.